Lisa Ray opens up about how being called as “sex symbol” haunted her!

The actor-model Lisa Ray who made her movie debut in 23 years ago with the Tamil movie Nethaji co-starring Sarath Kumar went to do movies in various languages and appeared in many international movies like Water, I Can’t Think Straight, Let the Game Begin, etc.

Now, in a recent conversation with news agency PTI, the 47-year-old actor has opened up about how being known as a sex symbol at the mere age of 16 has haunted her, her whole life. “I hate to be labelled and put into boxes but I had to deal with it since a young age because I was a sex symbol at the age of 16. It was completely unanticipated.”

“To suddenly become this figure for an entire nation and on top of that, to look much older, that has haunted me my entire life up until now,” she added.

The model turned actor, who overcame multiple myeloma(a cancer of the white blood cells) hopes that people will understand her better after reading about her journey. She added that the book should not be read just as a cancer memoir as it gives a glimpse into her journey right from the beginning of her fame.

“A lot of people will understand how I have this ambivalent relationship with my career, how I am an accidental actress, how I always had one foot in and one foot out of it and how I believe that I have been underestimated only because of the way I look. Although, I don’t believe they shouldn’t be at odds with each other,” she was quoted as saying by the news agency.

She further revealed at the peak of her career, she was struggling through a personal tragedy after her mother had met with an accident which left her wheelchair-bound. “I understood at a very young age – I was 16 then – that all the aspects that you call success — name, fame and money — they don’t solve the questions of the soul. So, my ambitions became different. My goal wasn’t to become famous. That explains a lot of my choices, all the projects I said no to because I really understood that my answers were not waiting at the end of it,” she said.

Lisa added that a part of her would have been ‘extinguished’ by ‘conforming to mainstream standards.’ The actor said her book may have started as a starting point to talk about her disease but it also gave her an opportunity to talk about her life. “I do cover my cancer experiences but that comes much later. Having said that, cancer was the launching pad for writing this memoir because initially, that’s why I was approached to write this…”

“When I sat down and thought about it, I realised that I couldn’t write about my disease in isolation from the rest of my life because everything is connected with what came before,” she concluded. “I hate to be labelled and put into boxes but I had to deal with it since a young age because I was a sex symbol at the age of 16. It was completely unanticipated.” “To suddenly become this figure for an entire nation and on top of that, to look much older, that has haunted me my entire life up until now,” she added.

The model turned actor, who overcame multiple myeloma(a cancer of the white blood cells) hopes that people will understand her better after reading about her journey. She added that the book should not be read just as a cancer memoir as it gives a glimpse into her journey right from the beginning of her fame.

“A lot of people will understand how I have this ambivalent relationship with my career, how I am an accidental actress, how I always had one foot in and one foot out of it and how I believe that I have been underestimated only because of the way I look. Although, I don’t believe they shouldn’t be at odds with each other,” she was quoted as saying by the news agency.

She further revealed at the peak of her career, she was struggling through a personal tragedy after her mother had met with an accident which left her wheelchair-bound. “I understood at a very young age – I was 16 then – that all the aspects that you call success — name, fame and money — they don’t solve the questions of the soul. So, my ambitions became different. My goal wasn’t to become famous. That explains a lot of my choices, all the projects I said no to because I really understood that my answers were not waiting at the end of it,” she said.

Lisa added that a part of her would have been ‘extinguished’ by ‘conforming to mainstream standards.’ The actor said her book may have started as a starting point to talk about her disease but it also gave her an opportunity to talk about her life. “I do cover my cancer experiences but that comes much later. Having said that, cancer was the launching pad for writing this memoir because initially, that’s why I was approached to write this…”

“When I sat down and thought about it, I realised that I couldn’t write about my disease in isolation from the rest of my life because everything is connected with what came before,” she concluded.